On this Amazigh Dutch site, it’s argued that the Moroccan government made a crucial error in the dispute with Spain by using a spurious Arabic name, Laila, instead of the older Berber word, Tura, being prepared to weaken their claim rather than acknowledge Berber language rights. However, there are further views to be considered.

I could use a reprint of El Raisuni, the Sultan of the Mountains by Mrs Rosita Forbes.

Those pusillanimous Valencians have decided to expunge the only part of their Moors and Christians feasts with any contemporary relevance: Exploding Mohamed. In view of this, isn’t it time the Brits stopped burning Guy Fawkes? I’m sure the Pope could make a bomb if he put his mind to it, and the IRA used to [...]

News that pornstar Dolly Buster used to work as a translator for the Bundesgrenzschutz, the old German federal border guards, reminds me vaguely of translation and interpreting’s original Mata Hari, Malinche, who got naked with, and told all her people’s secrets to stout Cortez. Or, as Mexican national mythology has it, parented the first Mexican [...]

Een fijn voorbeeld van het Nederspaans in het Geheugen van Nederland:
‘k Ben een onverschwartze Espagnolos
Kijk naar mijn bolos, als roet zoo zwart
Zie ik een aardig meisje met mijn blikkos
Voel ik de prikkos, hier in mijn hart
‘k Ben van beroep torero in Sevilla
Ik steek de bandrilla de stieren in d’r billa
Dan roepen in den circus alla [...]

In 1939, in a piece in La Revolución Nacional desde la Universidad. Cursillo de orientación nacionalsindicalista, José Pérez de Barradas, director of the Museum of Prehistory in Madrid, wrote that “we Spanish are not ethnically European. Thanks to God, Africa begins in the Pyrenees [the phrase is famous and Dumas]; we are neither Alpines nor [...]

Go check JP Getty Jnr’s Talitha in Barcelona harbour. It’s a lovely boat, although $315K/week seems a bit steep for someone who’s not exactly a fan of American luxury hotel decor. Still, I can imagine its passengers being content that they’re not one of the 24,000 other cruise sheeps passing through Barcelona today.